McPherson Town Holiday Home Tour
Ring in the holidays with a guided walking tour of historic Dayton homes. Scheduled every 12 minutes each tour accommodates 15-20 people. A stop for refreshments is included.
Event details
* this page may be updated if event is repeated in the future *
McPherson Town Holiday Home Tour
Ring in the holidays with a tour of historic Dayton homes during the 2023 McPherson Town Holiday Home Tour.
Last held in 2018, the popular event returns this year the weekend after Thanksgiving. The tour will be Friday, Nov. 24 from 4-8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 25 from 3-7 p.m.
“This is a wonderful activity to share with family and friends visiting for Thanksgiving,” said Jenny Cruz, tour co-chair.
Nine historic homes featured on the guided walking tour include a newly-renovated condominium in the converted Hawthorne School building built in 1886. Tours are scheduled every 12 minutes and will accommodate 15-20 people. Guests will also make a stop in a dessert house for refreshments.
McPherson Town, known as ‘Dayton’s most neighborly neighborhood,’ was one of the Gem City’s first suburbs platted by Samuel McPherson in 1845. It was declared a historic district in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The neighborhood is known for its streetscapes of high style and Folk Victorian and Queen Anne architecture, popular during the late 19th century.
“The McPherson Town Historic District has become one of Dayton’s most sought-after neighborhoods,” said Cruz. “The residents are excited to show off their beautiful homes, each one with its own story to tell.”
Tickets for the timed tours are $20 in advance and can be purchased online. Some of the homes require navigating stairs.
Tickets are $25 if purchased the day of the tour at Ed Smith Flowers and Gifts, 209 W. Riverview Ave., where the tour begins.
McPherson Town, established in 1845, is known as Dayton’s first suburb. Most of the houses on the tour were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The neighborhood has survived many trials over the decades, from the 1913 flood which flooded houses to the second stories, to commercial development plans in the 1970s which would have bulldozed the area. Fortunately, efforts to obtain historic district status succeeded in 1977 when McPherson Town was declared Dayton’s third historic district. Since 1993 when it was the site of the first Rehabarama, McPherson Town’s houses have been carefully restored and the neighborhood has become a tight-knit community which is proud to call itself “Dayton’s most neighborly neighborhood.”
